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2014 Resolution on the Freedom to Marry by the U.S. Conference of Mayors

Resolution adopted June 23, 2014

1. WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors has long stood for full equality for same-sex couples, including endorsing the freedom to marry in 2009; and

2. WHEREAS, since the time of that resolution, support for marriage for same-sex couples has grown to nearly 60 percent nationwide, with majorities in every region of the country and opposition diminishing dramatically; and

3. WHEREAS, today, nineteen states plus the District of Columbia have now ended discrimination in marriage, so that now 44 percent of Americans live in a state where same-sex couples can marry; and

4. WHEREAS, in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the core of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and in so doing eviscerated justifications for excluding same-sex couples from marriage; and

5. WHEREAS, as of June 17th, 2014, every one of the 15 federal district court judges who has ruled in a marriage case has found that state marriage discrimination violates the US Constitution; and

6. WHEREAS, there continues to be an untenable patchwork imposing great legal uncertainty and hardship on committed same-sex couples in the 31 states that deny their freedom to marry and refuse to respect their lawful marriages, even as the federal government rightly treats these couples as married for federal programs and purposes; and

7. WHEREAS, more than 400 mayors from 39 states and the District of Columbia have so far signed on to be a Mayor for the Freedom to Marry,

8. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and urges the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to speedily bring national resolution by ruling in favor of the freedom to marry nationwide.